Hooked: Proenza Schouler
With its leather skirts, heavy fur trims, gobs of black lipstick, and skintight jeans with an all-over scribble motif (a collaboration with J Brand), Proenza Schouler’s fall collection could have been a gaggle of goths having the proverbial smoke in the girls’ room. But no. In fact, these are honor-roll, college-bound young women, and we know this by the smart-looking book satchels they discreetly carried down the runway. Called P.S. 11 (by the way, P.S. stands for public school in the New York area), the sturdy leather bags in Ivy-League brown or black—with gold pyramid studs, silver hardware, a shoulder strap, extra buckles, and room for more than a credit card and breath mints—are the valedictorian’s answer to the night creature’s clutch. And that means Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough have earned their degree in higher-education chic, not to mention the 2009 CFDA Award for accessories. $1850 at Barneys New York.